The governing French Socialist Party, which opinion polls show is already in trouble in parliamentary elections scheduled next March, has compounded its problems in recent days with the spectacle of a public ideological and personal battle between two of the party's young leaders. At issue are the nature and future of French socialism.

The Serbian government made a hard turn to the right in parliamentary elections Sunday as voters strongly endorsed an ultranationalist party led by a war crimes indictee now jailed in The Hague. Analysts said the first-place finish of Vojislav Seselj's Serbian Radical Party, which won 28% of the seats in parliament, according to preliminary results, was due to voters' frustration with the previous government's perceived corruption and failure to create jobs. Slobodan Milosevic's Socialists also garnered some support, taking at least 7% of the vote.

December 17, 1995 | Bill Thomas, Bill Thomas, a former reporter for the Baltimore Sun, just returned from a trip to Russia, where he has been writing about political and social affairs since 1990. His latest book, "Capital Confidential" (Pocket Books), will be published early next year

A hand slides an envelope bulging with money across the top of a desk. A grim-faced bureaucrat takes it and stuffs it in his pocket. Business-as-usual in the former Soviet Union. But wait. Suddenly, action on the TV freezes. Prison bars appear, accompanied by the sound of a cell door slamming shut. Cut to the uniformed figure of retired Gen. Alexander I. Lebed, Russia's version of Colin L. Powell and leader of one of the 43 parties taking part in today's parliamentary elections.

Iraq on Monday set a provisional date of Jan. 30 for parliamentary elections, the third since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein six years ago. The date was proposed by Iraq's federal court, which deals with government disputes, the office of Iraq's first deputy parliamentary speaker said. An official at Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission said parliament would need to approve legislation enabling the elections, and a budget, before the balloting could take place. "We are of course ready.

On Monday, as the polls were about to close at Al Hassan Ibn al Haitham High School, Khalid Adwa, a 32-year-old firebrand Islamic priest, strode out to the school's courtyard. Within seconds, scores of voters and campaign workers left their posts. They fell in behind the imam, dropped to their knees and joined the charismatic clergyman in evening prayers.

Sanju Mausi offers voters a real choice. She could be the best man, woman, or cross between the two to represent them in India's Parliament. It depends on their point of view. The candidate dresses like a woman and campaigns under a woman's name. The chief electoral officer insists the candidate is a man. Mausi hopes voters will support her for who she is: a eunuch.

Egypt has been governed for 29 years by President Hosni Mubarak, and a state of emergency limiting civil liberties has been in effect for that entire time. The most popular opposition party, the Muslim Brotherhood, is banned and its candidates must run as independents. Egyptian political analysts expect that the government will manipulate this fall's parliamentary elections, as it has in the past, to guarantee the ruling National Democratic Party another sweeping majority. Against this backdrop, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei has called for a boycott of the elections unless electoral reforms are implemented first.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's slate had an early lead Saturday as partial results trickled in from the parliamentary elections last weekend. With 10% to 30% of the vote counted in 11 of Iraq's 18 provinces, Maliki's State of Law slate was winning in Baghdad and four southern provinces, Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission reported. But his lead could easily be wiped away, with final election results expected to take at least a month to certify. State of Law, which bills itself as nonsectarian, had predicted it would win 100 seats in the 325-member parliament, taking Baghdad and Iraq's nine southern provinces.

A violent protest that left dozens of people injured in the Afghan capital Wednesday points to concerted efforts by the Taliban to keep alive the controversy over an American pastor's discarded plans to burn copies of the Koran, Afghan authorities said. White Taliban flags flew above a crowd of about 800 people who burned tires, shouted anti-American slogans and pelted security forces with stones. Police fired assault rifles into the air to break up the early-morning protest on the outskirts of Kabul.

Islamist parties have solidified their lead in Egypt's historic parliamentary elections, capturing about 70% of the seats up for grabs in the second phase of a three-part poll, according to results released Saturday by election officials and preliminary estimates by the parties. The Muslim Brotherhood said it won about 47% of 180 seats in the second round, about the same percentage it took in the first round. The Al Nour party, part of the more religiously conservative Salafi movement, told the Associated Press that it won 20% of the second-round vote, also matching its performance during the first phase in November.